Meeting Authors: RT and more (and winners)

So at RT I met several wonderful authors. Being Romantic Times, most of the authors were women, but there were some guys scattered sporadically. The wonderful Melissa Marr met Sandy, Em, and I for breakfast along with Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Be careful if you meet Melissa next year. She said she is going to dress up Jennifer as her so she can have a break since there are two releases for her (DARKEST MERCY and GRAVEMINDER). So you may think you are going to see Melissa, but it may be Jennifer. It remains to be seen if she can pull this off.

Kelley Armstrong was the first we saw once through the doors. She is very nice. I had the pleasure of meeting her twice last year, but being one of my favorite authors, I was excited to see her again. NO HUMANS INVOLVED is my favorite novel of her, and my favorite all-time. I have three copies of it. US, UK, and Canadian versions... because they all have different covers. I took them all to be signed, and she was amused that I loved it so much I bought three copies... not to mention my little paperback that I drag around when I want to take a copy with me.

We moved to the next line where Holly Black was set up. I skipped her because I was going to be seeing her the following weekend (today). So you'll see more about her later. Ally Carter was also in the next row. She was very funny and very sweet. I got HEIST SOCIETY signed. I took all my hardbacks sans jacket cover. I get that the jacket is supposed to protect the book, but I had when they are ripped. When I pulled it out, she said "Gasp. A naked Heist." She was also amused that I had pre-labeled all of my books with post-it notes. I took books for me, Catie, and the giveaway, and I wanted to make sure they were all signed right. I think the sticky notes proves I'm a pro at the author signings.

Next we went to the back to find Rachel Vincent. She was sweet and kinda quiet. She gave away some copies of MY SOUL TO KEEP. I was one of the lucky ones. I asked how you would go about getting one, and she gave me one. Sometimes all it takes is asking.

I also met MaryJanice Davidson. She was in the back because they had anticipated big numbers in her line. But she was hidden, and I had to ask all over to find out where she was. She was very sweet and very chatty. We talked about her different series, but mostly Jennifer Scales, my favorite. She was happy to see it as part of a giveaway. I told her I didn't think it got enough press and most bookstores don't even carry it. It comes out as online order only from Borders and Barnes and Noble. She said she's working on it. Book five comes out this year, and she said there will be at least two more. One thing I love about her... she uses my real name in three different books/series of hers. Only place I've seen it in a novel.

I met Jocelyn Drake, Vicki Pettersson, and Delilah Marvelle. I want to read her books, but the first one is out of print. Hopefully, the publisher will realize they need to be re-printed to sell. But she has an exciting new romance series coming out next year. A trilogy (book 1 in Jan, book 2 in Feb, and book 3 in Mar), so keep your eyes open for all three of these wonder ladies books.

There were several authors they had to hand out numbers for. Jeaniene Frost and Richelle Mead were the only two on my list. We were almost to the front to Ms Frost's line when they moved her and gave out numbers. We were the first to get books signed once they moved her. And since we had gotten all our books signed, we sat down to wait to be called to Richelle Mead's line. We were about fifteen minutes before it was over.

There was a woman waiting for JR Ward's line. They were calling in the 900's around the time we were called to Richelle's line. Her number was 1527. I don't think she got her books signed. JR Ward, Jim Butcher, and Charlaine Harris seemed to be the most popular in terms of number of signatures.

Today I met Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. They were so funny. They were talking about research and how risky it could be. Cassie said a friend took her on a tour of London for the Infernal Devices series. And they went through a particulary bad area. Her friend told her to take a picture of a certain area and she got a picture of a window... with a nekkid man cooking breakfast. Apparently, he didn't seem happy. And Holly wanted to see what it would be like to be thrown in the trunk of a car. So her friend offered to do this. Unfortunately, it was a hatchback, so it wasn't quite as scary. She also recommends to have a neck pillow because riding in a trunk is not comfortable.

One of the girls in the audience asked Holly if it was hard to leave characters behind and move onto a new set. Holly said that her characters are happy that she moved on because all she did was wreak havoc on them. Holly announced that the second book in The Curse Workers is called RED GLOVE. And exciting news for Cassie... City of Bones was optioned as a movie, and a screenplay is complete. This does not mean it will be a movie, only that it may be a movie.

And now for the winners!

Ally: WICKEDLOVELY (re-draw)
Joy: CITY OF BONES (re-draw)
Star: MY SOUL TO TAKE
kimscarecrow: VAMPIRE ACADEMY
Dusty: JENNIFER SCALES
Sandy: VALIANT
elizabeth: THE SUMMONING

In addition to these books, you'll also get swag donated by the fabulous Melissa Marr and bookmarks picked up variously at RT and other conventions.

Please email me at aine[dot]onetwistedpixie[at]gmail[dot]com if you are a winner. I need your name and address to mail the book. Congrats!

**Note: if you don't contact me by Wednesday, May 12, new winners will be drawn.